Salt - How strict are you?

[Cbell]

Just basically that...how much do you restrict salt in your child's diet?

My DD is 7mo and I have realised that some of the food I have been giving her (cream cheese, hummus and bread) all have salt in them.

The government guidelines say 'NO SALT FOR BABIES' because it can not be processed by their kidneys. I would like to follow this advice as much as possible particularly in the first year.

So what to offer instead, particularly bread (I don't have the time to bake my own!)?

Hi,

You can't avoid salt completely and nor should you - we do actually need some! There is salt in breast milk I think. The guidelines for babies under one is a limit of 1g a day. IIRC bread is about half a gram a slice so you should only give bread once a day and ideally not every day. The amount in cream cheese is pretty low so if your baby only has small amounts I would not worry. Also try and think of it as 7g in 7 days rather than 1 g a day - so if one day your baby has quite a few of these salty processed food then just stick to fruit, vege and plain dairy the next day.

My DD likes bread and hummus (and not much else), so she gets these a lot. We've always made bread - its easy with a breadmaker, it really is - I am the last person you would call a domestic godess. Hummus is also a 5 minute job to make and I then freeze in ice cube trays for DD. Not saying that there is so much salt in these that you should worry - I don't think it would be a problem at 7 mo unless they really eat a lot of bread/ hummus - but if you concerned are then these things are easy to make salt free.

I just give her cream cheese though, there are limits to how far I am willing to go to avoid salt. Small amount are ok.

Thank you very much that is very sound advice :D

I don't worry really - mine has cream cheese, bread, hummous, baby vegemite, all sorts. I just don't add salt to food.

Mine DD eats a lot of cream cheese. Check the backs as I have found the supermarkets own brand contains less salt that Philladelphia.

I don't use salt in cooking at all and I avoid obvious salty foods like crisps. If you are willing to spend some time in the supermarket you can find lower salt varieties. McClelland spreadable cheese has less salt then philadelphia for example.
DD loves bread and toast so she has half a slice of toast in the morning and then has a wrap for dinner or a rice cake.

Wonder if 6 month old DS2 is having too much salt then. I've been quite liberal with giving him bread and cheese in loads of his meals(mature cheese which tastes more salty than mild cheese, or am I just imagining it?). So, one meal of macaroni cheese without any added salt and I think he's probably had his whole week's allowance of 7g as it tastes really salty and he eats loads of it??

Am now beginning to worry.. although other than cheesy food and bread, he only ever eats veg/chicken/fish/fruits/tomato purees without any salt. Thought I was quite strict compared to most, but reading this post it looks like I'm being too generous on the salt thing. [neurotic mum emoticon]